Textile drafting apparatus



C. MIESCH ETAL TEXTILE DRAFTING APPARATUS June 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 21, 1958 Z}; vale/"tom C.ML as 011/ June 16, 1959 C. MIESCH ETAL TEXTILE DRAFTING APPARATUS Filed Ju1y 21, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TEXTILE DRAFTING APPARATUS Camille Miesch, Lutterbach, and Bernard Baumann, Mulhouse-Bourtzwiller, France, assignors to Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques, Madhouse, France, a company of France Application July 21, 1958, Serial No. 749,809

Claims priority, application France July 25, 1957 18 Claims. (Cl. 19-134) The present invention relates to a textile drafting apparatus of a drawing machine and, more particularly, to a pivoting arm of such an apparatus, of the type carrying a number of pressure rollers such as those used, for instance, in the drawing heads of spinning frames and machines for preparing textile fibers.

Ln apparatus of this kind, it is necessary that the distance between the pressure rollers may be adjusted in accordance with the mean length of the fibers to be drawn. To this aim, devices have already been designed in which the rollers are carried by supports the position of which is adjustable along the pressure arm and which may be locked in any desired position by means of a set screw. Such devices, however, have a number of drawbacks; actually, the time required for loosening the screws, shifting the supports and tightening the screws, is not at all negligible, since these operations are repeatedly carried out a considerable number of times in the frames which are always fitted-with a great number of such devices; this results in the production being reduced. Furthermore, fragment adjustments of such devices, principally those provided with screw threads, is a source of wear. Actually, since the space available for the pressure devices is very small, the screws used for this purpose are also of small dimensions and, there fore, have not always the desirable strength.

Finally, owing to possible lack of dexterity of the person responsible for these adjustments, it may happen that the screws be not turned tight enough and, therefore, run the risk of getting loose, or on the contrary, they are tightened to excessive stress and are therefore damaged and so are the screw threaded holes in which they are mounted.

The object of the invention is to provide instantaneous adjustment of the location of the pressure rollers on the arm without the aid of any tool and particularly without resorting to screws.

Another object of the invention to provide on the arm, for one part, a longitudinal slideway along which sliding or individual supporting and guiding members each carrying a pressure roller may be manually shifted and, for another part, positioning meansadapted to cooperate with complementary means provided on each sliding member, the latter comprising resilient means designed and adapted to lock it in any selected position by a transverse action and, when the arm is in operative position, to apply the corresponding roller with the required pressure against the member (often also a roller) with which it is adapted to cooperate.

By virtue of this arrangement, for changing the location of a roller on: the aim, it is sufficient to disengage the aforesaid positioning means by exerting a transverse action upon the sliding member which carries the roller, against the action of the aforesaid resilient means, then to shift said sliding member along the slideway of the arm in order to bring it, together with the roller it carries, into the new desired position and, finally, to let the positioning means automatically reengage under the action 2,899,495 Patented June 16, i959 of the resilient means. Therefore, when the arm is in raised rest position it is possible to make each roller assume any desired position along the arm. As soon as the latter is pivoted down into operative position, the rollers it carries are resiliently applied against their associated lower rollers.

In one embodiment, the resilient means which hold each sliding member in any desired location on the arm, serve, at the same time, to ensure the application of the corresponding upper roller against the associated lower roller.

According to a particular arrangement, each sliding member or individual supporting and guiding member constitutes an outer element in which is'slidably mounted an inner element in which the corresponding roller is removably suspended. Each of these two elements has an abutment while the resilient means permanently urge both aforesaid elements one with respect to the'other in the direction tendingto simultaneously apply said abutments respectively against two longitudinal surfaces of the slideway of the arm. Furthermore, the general arrangement is such that each abutment may be moved against the action of said resilient means, away from the slideway surface with which it is associated, to an extent sufficient for maintaining the roller under pressure in any operative condition and for allowing release of the supporting and guiding member in order that it may be shifted along the slideway.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arm of inverted channel or gutter formation in which the individual supporting and guiding members are engaged.

in a particular structure, each supporting and guiding member comprises an outer element or block of rectangular cross-section slidably mounted in the arm and having two outer longitudinal shouldersadapted to be applied against the edges of the arm and an inner element movably mounted within the former in a piston-like manner. The latter has two lugs guided in axial slots of the sliding block and engaged in two longitudinal grooves cut in the inner faces of the arm. The shoulders of the sliding block and the lugs of the piston-element constitute the aforesaid abutments. The positioning means are situated on'the shoulders of the sliding blocks and on the slideway with which they cooperate; they are constituted, in a particular embodiment, by notches cut in the arm and at least one tooth integral with the sliding block.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide an arm which is longitudinally adjustably mounted'on a pivoting support and, particularly also to provide selective positioning means on. said support, said positioning means being constituted by the notches already provided on the arm for positioning the supporting and guiding members.

In a particular embodiment, the axis of the pistonelement which carries the pressure roller is offset in the direction of the sliding. movement of the supporting and guiding member within the arm, relative to the transverse plane extending through one of its locking teethof the sliding block by a distance equal to one fourth of the pitch of the arm notches, in such a manner that upon the supporting and guiding member being pivoted so as to interchange its lateral faces in contact with the corresponding inner lateral faces of the arm, said supporting and guiding member be locked at a distance from its prior position equal tohalf the pitch of the notches. Given a predetermined notch pitch, it is therefore possible to obtain twice as. great a precision;

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig; 1 is an elevational side View, with portions cut away, of an upper roller supporting arm according to the invention for a textile drafting apparatus of a drawing machine. v

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, on a larger scale with many portions cut away, of the same arm to show the inner structure of its various portions,

. Fig. 3 is, on a larger scale, a section made on line 33 of Fig. l, and

Figs. 4 and 5 are sections made respectively on lines 4-4 and 55 of Fig. 3. The arm 1, shown in Fig. 1, carries three pressure rollers 2, 3, 4, and belongs to a textile drafting apparatus of a drawing machine. It is adapted to assume any one of two positions, namely the raised or rest position indicated at 1 and the operative or work position indicated at 1; in this latter position the pressure rollers are respectively pressed against three corresponding lower rollers 5, 6, 7 mounted in a stationary support 8 in which is also mounted a spindle 9 about which the arm 1 is hinged. A locking system 11 of any suitable type enables the arm to be maintained in its work position.

The arm 1 is of inverted channel formation (see also Fig. 2) and the geometrical rectangular shape of its cross-section as illustrated in the drawings is diagrammatical; of course, the arm actually has no sharp edges and has a more or less rounded shape. The inner surface of the arm thus forms a slideway in which are adapted to slide supporting and guiding members (three 'in number in this example) each supporting a pressure roller.

Each supporting and guiding member constitutes an outer element 14 which will be hereinafter called sliding block, and in which an inner hollow element 15 is mov- 'ably mounted in a piston-like manner and which, for this reason, will be hereinafter called piston-element (see also Fig. 3).

The sliding block 14 is generally of a parallelopipedic shape, it is adapted to slide longitudinally in the arm and is guided therein by the inner faces of both side walls of said arm. Furthermore the sliding block 14 comprises two lateral shoulders 14a, which constitute one of the two abutments hereinabove referred to. Each of these two lateral shoulders bears against the edge of the corresponding lateral wall of the arm 1 and is provided with positioning teeth 16. In the embodiment illustrated, each of these shoulders comprises two teeth near each of its ends. These teeth constitute one of the aforesaid positioning elements, the complementary positioning elements being constituted by a row of notches 17 forming a toothed rack on the lower edge of each lateral wall of the arm.

In order that each supporting and guiding member be held more firmly in any selected position on the arm, additional positioning means are provided near the top wall of said arm. These additional positioning means are constituted, on one hand, by additional teeth 18 on the sliding block, and, on the other hand, by an additional toothed rack 19 on the arm. In the embodiment illustrated, there is provided a single additional rack in the arm, against the top portion of one inner lateral face thereof, but, for reasons which will be explained hereinafter, additional teeth 18 are provided on both faces of the sliding block 14.

Each sliding block 14 has a cylindrical bore 21 in which is adapted to slide a corresponding cylindrical portion 15a of the piston element 15, and two longitudinal grooves 14b in which are housed ribs 150 of the piston element, so that the latter is angularly positioned within the sliding block. Furthermore, two lugs 15b (which constitute the second abutment hereinabove referred to) integral with the piston element 15, are adapted to slide dinal groove 1a cut in each of both inner lateral faces of the arm.

The piston element 15 is hollow and encloses a compression coil spring 23, one end of which is bearing against the bottom of said piston element and the other end against the top wall of the sliding block 14. The general arrangement is such that, when the lugs 15]; bear against the edge of the groove 1a of the arm, the spring 23 which bears against the bottom of the piston-element, urges the sliding block upwardly with respect to the arm, while the teeth 16 are engaged in the notches 17 of the arm, whereas some clearance is left between the outer upper face of the sliding block and the top wall of the arm. Furthermore, when the arm is pivoted downwardly in work position, the upper pressure rollers are urged upwardly by the corresponding lower rollers by a height such that the lugs15b of the piston-clement are located at a given distance above the edges of the two grooves in of the arm and, therefore, are able to move slightly in vertical direction, either upwardly or downwardly, relative to the arm.

The operation of the portion of the apparatus described so far is as follows:

When the arm 1 assumes its rest position, in each supporting and guiding member, the spring 23 urges the lugs 15b of the piston elements downwardly against the edges of the arm grooves, and it also urges the positioning teeth 16 of the lateral shoulders of the sliding block into the corresponding notches of the toothed racks 17 of the arm. Furthermore the additional teeth 13 of the 'sliding block are engaged into the notches 19 of the arm. For shifting a supporting and guiding member along the arm, it is sufiicient to exert against the action of the spring, a pull on the sliding block 14 in a downward direction transverse to the general direction of the arm, so as to release the teeth of the sliding block from the notches of the. arm, then to shift the supporting and guiding member along the arm, to the desired position. During this movement, the lugs 15b of the piston-element slide along the edges of the grooves 1a of the arm. The sliding block is then released and the springs immediately brings the positioning teeth of the sliding block back into mesh with the new corresponding notches of the arm. Wihout using any tool whatever, it is thus possible to shift instantaneously each supporting and guiding member and the pressure roller that it carries, the assembly being then automatically locked in place as soon as it is released.

When the arm assumes its work position 1', the springs which bear against the top walls of the sliding blocks, exert a downward resilient pressure against the pistonelements, and this pressure is transmitted to the pressure rollers 4. Consequently, it will be seen that the same springs serve at the same time to ensure the positioning of the pressure rollers along the arm, and to provide the pressure for applying said upper rollers against the corresponding lower rollers.

In the structure hereinabove described, the minimum distance over which any supporting and guiding member may be individually shifted is equal to the pitch of the toothed racks of the arm. In order to reduce this distance to half a pitch, without modifying the toothed racks, in a particular embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4, the axis of the piston-element is offset in the direction of the sliding movement for adjustment along the arm, by a distance equal to one fourth of the pitch of the toothed racks, with respect to the transverse plane extending through a tooth of the sliding block. Otherwise stated, the axis of the piston-element is located at a distance from the transverse plane extending through each tooth of the sliding block equal to a multiple of the pitch of the teeth added with one fourth of the pitch. Under such conditions, according to the direction in which the sliding block is introduced into the arm, that is to say,

according to which of the lateral faces of the sliding block is put against a given face of the channel of the arm, said sliding block may assume either of two posi- 6 tions spaced apart by a distance equal to half apitch. The accuracy of the adjustment, therefore, is twice as great by virtue of this particular dispositon. Of course, this feature is applicable to the teeth which cooperate with the upper toothed rack 19, as well as to the teeth which cooperate with the lower toothed rack 17.

Furthermore, there has been shown also an arrangement which makes it possible to adjust the position of the arm 1 with respect to its pivoting axis. For this purpose, the arm is slidably mounted on a support 25 engaged in the channel of the arm, and it may be locked in the latter in any desired longitudinal position relative thereto by means of a device comprising a screw 26 the end of which bears against a portion of the support 25 and which is mounted in a rectangular nut 27 slidably engaged in the lateral grooves 1a of the arm; tightening the screw 26 causes the support 25 to be clamped against the top wall of the arm, the screw being backed through the nut 27 against the edges of the grooves 1a of the arm.

Furthermore, in order to provide a positive positioning of the arm on its support 25, the latter carries two sets of teeth 28, 29 adapted respectively to cooperate with the toothed racks 17 and 19 of the arm which already serve for positioning the supporting and guiding members along said arm.

Finally, as concerns the mounting of a pressure roller on the supporting and guiding member, the latter has one end in the shape of a resilient clamp 150 which partially surrounds the roller spindle (Figs. 3 and in an annular groove 31 of the latter. In a particular embodiment, this clamp-forming portion is made of plastic material. The sliding block 14 has notches 14b in which the spindle of the pressure roller is adapted to, slide so that the latter is maintained in a plane normal to the direction of the arm.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What we claim is:

1. In a textile drafting apparatus, in combination, supportm eans, an upper roller-carrying arm mounted on said support means for movement to and from an operative position where said arm extends over the drawing plane, said arm having a longitudinal slideway, a plurality of supporting and guiding members each adapted to slide in said slideway of said arm, an upper rollercarrying element mounted in each of said supporting and guiding members for movement relative thereto in a direction transverse to said arm and substantially at right angles to the drawing plane when said arm is in operative positive, positioning means distributed on said arm along said slideway, complementary positioning means on each of said supporting and guiding members, said supporting and guiding members each being mounted also for individual transverse movement on said arm to bring said complementary positioning means into and out of engagement with said positioning means on said arm, and resilient means mounted in each of said supporting and guilding members for urging same in the direction corresponding to said complementary positioning means engaging said positioning means on said arm and for urging said upper roller-carrying elements away from said arm toward the drawing plane.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein said resilient means in each of said supporting and guiding members for urging same and for urging the corresponding upper roller-carrying element are constituted by a single spring means.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein said positioning means distributed on said arm along said slideway are constituted by a plurality of notches in said arm, while said complementary positioning means are constituted by at least one tooth adapted to be engaged selectively into one of said notches under the action of said resilient means.

4. The combination of claim 1, wherein at least one of said supporting and guiding members may be mountedin said slideway in any one of several angular positions relative thereto, and wherein the location of'said complementary positioning means on said supporting member is such that upon the latter being moved from one angular position to another, the axis of the corresponding upper roller-carrying element is shifted along the arm by a distance shorter than the distance between two successive elements of the positioning means distributed on said arm.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said supporting guiding members and said upper roller-carrying elements each have an abutment adapted to come respectively into engagement with two corresponding surfaces of said arm under the action of said resilient means, said positioning means being in mesh when said abutment of said supporting and guiding member is engaged against the corresponding aforesaid surface, and said abutment of said upper roller-carrying element being moved away from the corresponding aforesaid surface against the action of said resilient means by the reaction of the textile fibers being drawn when said arm is in operative position.

6. The combination of claim 1, wherein said arm is oi: an inverted channel formation and wherein said supporting and guiding members and said upper rollercarrying elements each have an abutment adapted to come respectively into engagement with two corresponding surfaces of said arm under the action of said resilient means; one of said surfaces being constituted by the lower edges of said arm and the other surface by the lateral face of a groove cut in the inner surface of a lateral wall of said arm, said positioning means being in mesh when said abutment of said supporting and guiding member is engaged against the corresponding aforesaid surface and said abutment of said upper roller-carrying element being moved away from the corresponding aforesaid surface against the action of said resilient means by the reaction of the textile fibers being drawn when said arm is in operative position.

7. The combination of claim 6, wherein said positioning means are located on at least one of the lower edges of said inverted channel-like arm, and said complementary positioning means are located on saidabutment of said supporting and guiding element.

8. The combination of claim 1, wherein said arm is of an inverted channel formation, said supporting andguiding element being constituted by an outer hollow block of generally rectangular outer shape adapted to slide in said arm and having two longitudinal lateral shoulders forming abutments adapted to come into engagement respectively with the two lower edges of said arm, under the action of said resilient means, said upper roller-carrying element being constituted by a piston-like element mounted for reciprocating movement in said outer block and having two lateral lugs extending through two corresponding slots of the lateral walls of said block, the ends of said lugs forming abutments adapted to come into engagement with the corresponding lower lateral side of longitudinal grooves cut in the inner surface of the lateral walls of said arm, under the action of said resilient means, said positioning means being in mesh when said abutments of said block are engaged against the edges of the arm, and said lugs being moved away from said groove faces against the action of said resilient means by the reaction of the textile fibers being drawn when said arm is in operative position.

9. The combination of claim 8, wherein said positioning means are located on said edges of said arm and said complementary positioning means are located on said shoulders of said blocks.

10. The combination of claim 8, wherein said resilient means are constituted by a spring inserted between said piston-like element and a top portion of said block.

11. The combination of claim 8, wherein said positioning means are constituted by a toothed rack cut in at least one of the lower edges of said arm, while said complementary positioning means are constituted by at least one tooth rigid with the corresponding lateral shoulder of said block.

12. The combination of claim 8, wherein two sets of positioning means are provided at least on one of the two members constituted by the arm and one block, and the relative position of said sets of positioning means and of the axis of said piston-element relative to the positioning means carried thereby, are such that, upon said block being moved from one angular position in said slideway to another position 180 apart from the former, the axis of said piston-element is shifted along the arm by a distance shorter than the distance between two successive elements of the positioning means distributed over the arm.

13. The combination of claim 8, wherein said positioning means are constituted by a toothed rack cut at least on one of the lower edges of said arm, and said complementary positioning means are constituted by at least one tooth on each shoulder of said block, the axis of said piston-like element being longitudinally spaced from said tooth at a distance equal to a multiple of the pitch of said toothed rack added with one fourth of said pitch.

14. The combination of claim 8, wherein said positioning means are located on said edges of said arm and said complementary positioning means are located on said shoulders of said blocks, and wherein furthermore additional positioning means are provided on the inner face of said arm, near the top wall thereof, and additional complementary positioning means, on the outer surface of the top portion of said block, said additional positioning means and said additional complementary positioning means being adapted to -be in mutual engagement simultaneously with the engagement of said first cited block positioning means.

15. The combination of claim 1, wherein said arm is adjustably mounted in longitudinal direction on a bracket mounted on said support means.

16. The combination of claim 1, wherein said arm is of an inverted channel formation, said supporting and guiding element being constituted by an outer hollow block of generally rectangular outer shape adapted to slide in said arm, said upper roller-carrying element being constituted by a piston-like element mounted in said outer block, said arm being adjustably mounted in longitudinal direction on a bracket the top portion of which is adapted also to slide in said arm and the lower portion of which is mounted on said support means, clamping means being provided for clamping said arm onto said bracket in any desired longitudinal position relative thereto.

17. The combination of claim 1, wherein said arm is of an inverted channel formation, said supporting and guiding element being constituted by an outer hollow block of generally rectangular outer shape adapted to slide in said arm, said upper roller-carrying element being constituted by a piston-like element mounted in said outer block, said arm being adjustably mounted in longitudinal direction on a bracket the top portion of which is adapted also to slide in said arm and the lower portion of which is mounted on said support means, clamping means being provided for clamping said arm onto said bracket in any desired longitudinal position relative thereto, said supporting member positioning means being constituted by a set of positioning elements distributed along said arm on at least one of the lower edges thereof, said bracket being provided with at least one positive complementarypositioning element adapted to be engaged into any desired said positioning element of said arm when the latter is clamped against said bracket.

18. The combination of claim 17 wherein said pistonlike element has two lateral lugs extending through two corresponding slots of the lateral walls of said block, the ends of said lugs forming abutments adapted to come into engagement with the corresponding lower lateral side of longitudinal grooves cut in the inner surface of the lateral walls of said arm under the action of said resilient means, said means for clamping said arm onto said bracket comprising a clamping element operatively connected to said bracket and slidably engaged in said two grooves, and manually operable means operatively connected to said clamping element and to said bracket for relatively urging them in a direction suitable for tightly applying the top portion of said bracket against the inner face of the top wall of said arm and said clamping element tightly against said lower lateral side of said longitudinal grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,728,111 Werth et a1 Dec. 27, 1955 2,811,751 Nebich Nov. 5, 1957 2,870,487 Dausch Jan. 27, 1959 

